"Bomb cyclone" is new to me. I remember when "polar vortex" was new, but it's another terrorizing phrase. "Uncorks" would have been better 3 days ago, with its New Year's Eve evocations, but it's at least a visual image in words that goes along with the graphic, which is bright-colored, hurricanesque whorls over the Atlantic Ocean, right next to the famous cities, the cities that matter — Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C.

First, a monster storm will hammer coastal locations from Georgia to Maine with ice and snow. By Thursday, the exploding storm will, in many ways, resemble a winter hurricane, battering easternmost New England with potentially damaging winds in addition to blinding snow.

I'd like to say the media are turning us into snowflakes, but the one thing snowflakes shouldn't be afraid of is cold.

And how much snow are we talking? Enough to groom the ski trails?

From Norfolk to the Maryland and Delaware beaches, including much of the southern half of the Delmarva Peninsula, 3 to 6 inches of heavy snow are predicted.... To the north, Philadelphia and New York have a better chance for a coating of snow, but — unless the storm edges closer to the coast — the more significant snow should remain to their east from Atlantic City to eastern Long Island, where at least four to six inches could fall late Wednesday to late Thursday.

I'd really like some good snow around here so we could get the cross-country ski trails groomed. Six inches sounds great. Remember when snow was beautiful and fun? Now, everything's a nightmare.

"The standard for cold is whether your nose hairs freeze. That takes about -5F."

That has been exactly my observation here in Madison. Exactly the number I'd say.

That's the point where you need to wrap a scarf around your mouth and nose so you can warm up the air a little for breathing.

But when it's at least 5 above, there's no serious problem, unless you're stumbling home drunk in the middle of the night and might lie down and never get up (like George McGovern's daughter).

I went to Whole Foods yesterday when it was about 5, and most of the people going in and out of the store were not bothering to wear gloves. Few wore hats. At least one guy didn't even trouble himself to put on a coat.

We are at 87th day without measurable precipitation (7th longest on record) and 10-12 degrees above normal consistently. The records were all set 100-120 years ago. Perhaps we are entering a similar climatic period.

I think the story is leaving out the severity of the storm. It's not that it's going to drop only 6 inches of snow, it's that it will be accompanied by constant 30 mph winds or higher. So you're talking about a moderate amount of snow being driven by high winds, which is going to cause some huge problems.

Meteorological bombs -- the phrase -- has been around for 30+ years, I think. A storm is a bomb if its central pressure drops by 24 mb in 24 hours. I think that pressure value might be modulated by latitude too -- bigger drops are required for higher latitudes.

Here in Omaha, the three main TV stations each have about 3 meteorologists on staff. About 1/3 of the broadcast time is spent on weather. We get granular temps from midtown Omaha to west Omaha. All sorts of equipment and some of it now is good. My favorite is the European vs. American models.

About ten years ago a grade school science fair project measured projections against results. Not so good. But, hey, we've got the global warming nailed down for 2100.

Here's my forecast - all those people who admonished President Trump last week that the cold snap was "weather" not "climate" will sternly lecture us this week that the "bomb cyclone" is climate change not weather.

If you're worried about frozen nose hair try taking a couple of those glove warmer packet things, rolling them up tight and stuffing one in each nostril. I haven't tried this myself, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

That's the point where you need to wrap a scarf around your mouth and nose so you can warm up the air a little for breathing.And ice up your glasses and freeze them to your nose. Happened to me on a ski lift in PA. Had to go downhill blind.

Global warming/Climate Change/anthropomorphic... is under attack and the weather channel is trying to keep that story front and center. They have to go over-the-top in their description as it is difficult to push their narrative while ice breakers get trapped in Antarctica and people are freezing to death on benches, apartments are burning down with faulty wiring and space heaters used improperly, interstates shut down with massive pileups, power outages in air ports and train signal systems, plumbers backlogged with frozen pipes, delayed heating oil deliveries, and other predictable inconveniences including the usual communities writing plans to deal with the rise in sea levels as a full moon and tides go about their business. Soldier On TWC, we need the comic relief.

Cyclone bomb sounds like something an Islamic meteorologist would use.......Cold weather is quite bearable with thermal long johns and a down jacket. The one unendurable phenomenon of winter in NYC is stepping into the crosswalk and getting a shoeful of cold slush. That happens when the temperature is a little above freezing but it is far more painful than frozen nasal hairs, frostbite, or being attacked by ravenous Artic wolves.

Last night and this morning felt very cold to me because of the wind chill. But I was pretty comfortable running errands and grocery shopping on Saturday and Sunday.

My boyfriend told me of a first year resident he knows who is from SoCal. She said she is getting tired of cheeseheads constantly asking her "How you are doing? How are you dealing with the snow and ice? Bet you've never been so cold in your life!" It's as if they all expect her to break into sobs and wail, "There's no place like home!" Her reply is "I chose to do my residency here and I understood before I came that Wisconsin gets very cold. So I'm bundling up and scrapping the ice off my windshield like everyone else." Wisconsinites do have a way of assuming that those from milder climates are pathetic wimps who will curl up and die if the temp dips below 40, instead of just stoically coping like the natives do. (And the natives - including me - aren't that stoic. We do an awful lot of bitching and moaning while we are coping.)

I was also pleasantly surprised at how warm +8 felt this morning. It's all about what you're used to.

I will note that even though it's cold -- it got nowhere near -20 here, which is my benchmark for super cold weather. Madison hasn't been -20 for many years now (Christmas Day 2000) -- each day extends that record long interval between -20s.

What you want for outdoor work is a heat exchanger, which is two tubes in thermal contact. You breathe in through one and out through the other. The outgoing air heats the incoming air, and the incoming air cools the outgoing air, so ideally the outgoing air leaves at outdoor temperature and incoming air finishes at body temperature.

Yet the incoming air is fresh, in particular free of exhaled carbon dioxide replacing oxygen.

Bundling up gives you pre-breathed air and so air low in oxygen and high in carbon dioxide, which limits your aerobic capacity a lot.

"But all this- the distant trail, no sun in the sky, the great cold,and the strangeness of it all- had no effect on the man. It was notbecause he was long familiar with it. He was a newcomer in the land, andthis was his first winter.

"The trouble with him was that he was not able to imagine. Hewas quick and ready in the things of life, but only in the things, and notin their meanings. Fifty degrees below zero meant 80 degrees of frost.Such facts told him that it was cold and uncomfortable, and that wasall. It did not lead him to consider his weaknesses as a creature affectedby temperature. Nor did he think about man’s general weakness, ableto live only within narrow limits of heat and cold. From there, it didnot lead him to thoughts of heaven and the meaning of a man’s life ..."

I reread Jack London's story "To Build a Fire" the other night. Imagine trekking in the Yukon in the days before Gore-Tex and Land's End parkas and hand warmers. Made me grateful to be inside, with central heating and a gas fireplace.

"Ann Althouse said...I went to Whole Foods yesterday when it was about 5, and most of the people going in and out of the store were not bothering to wear gloves. Few wore hats. At least one guy didn't even trouble himself to put on a coat."

I saw a couple of people in shorts. But then again, I shop at Pick N Save.

While you poor people suffer, we out west sure could use about six feet of snow. It's like the weather went to late fall and stopped. I'm glad I don't have the bitter cold (it was 14 this morning and likely to get close to 40 or 50 today) but we need the moisture.

Forecasting a foot of freshies for my locale on the northshore of Boston, MA. Personally I'm looking forward to the new stuff covering up the now dirty old stuff, gives us a Currier & Ives sort of look.

My anecdotal evidence inidicates that all the hyperbole about the cold weather comes from people in warmer climes that moved there from a colder place.

It was only 6F in East TN yesterday morning, not at all unusual, but you would think this was the worst weather ever. We have no snow and none is forecast. I can recall 25-30 years ago when we might get 8-10" of snow and the city schools would remain open on a snow schedule (1 hour later start) and buses would run "snow routes", going down main roads only until side streets were cleared, kids would walk to the nearest intersection to catch the bus. In recent years. if there is the slightest hint of snow in the forecast, the schools are closed. The weather has not changed that much but attitudes toward it certainly have.

A few years back, the climate activists made a decision to push the “weirding” of the weather, even though the weather is not all that weird, and the other thing they do is only look back to the coldest period of the century, which was the ‘70s. The weather channel is big on this propaganda push. It’s like temperature maps where a temp in the 70s is shown not in a nice green color, but a more scary yellow, then you get to use orange for temps in the 80s, etc. They didn’t used to be like that. It’s gaslighting by the left, who view the prospect of climate change as an opportunity to finally end capitalism. Chances as to whether it is real or not cannot be taken.

Caligula (quoting Jack London) wrote: Fifty degrees below zero meant 80 degrees of frost.Such facts told him that it was cold and uncomfortable, and that wasall. It did not lead him to consider his weaknesses as a creature affectedby temperature. Nor did he think about man’s general weakness, ableto live only within narrow limits of heat and cold.

Degrees of frost, the first time I heard that turn of phrase was while watching the wonderful classic film, Scott of the Antarctic (later much lampooned by Monty Python). It was a 16mm print shown every year by the headmaster of my grammar school to boys who had reached twelve years; I guess he thought it was inspirational on the subject of manhood. (Given the likelihood that Harvey Weinstein, Al Franken, and practically every prominent Democrat has either never seen it or having seen it promptly forgot it, I'm inclined to trust the the old man's judgement.) It must be an old fashioned formulation, because I've never heard broadcast weather forecasters use degrees of frost — but they should, it focuses the mind better than "below zero" phrases. CBC weather dudes don't have this problem because they use the stupid metric system, probably to assuage their eternally recalcitrant Quebecois Francophonic bacon-loving bastards.

Yes, you read Quaestor aright — he wrote "stupid metric system". Though easier with which to calculate, metric temperature is stupid when applied to the weather. Here's why:

A few years back, the climate activists made a decision to push the “weirding” of the weather...

The weather is "weirding" in the perspective of the brainless Left who can't remember last Tuesday, let alone appreciate history. However, this "weirding" has nothing to do with CO2, either in its abundance or paucity, and everything to do with the recent quiescence of the Sun and its subsequent effect on the ionosphere above the North Pole.

I grew up in the Yukon. It went to freezing in October, -10 F in November, - 20 F from December through February with some stretches of -40 F and the odd cold snap of -50 F and -60 F. Once you get to - 40 F it becomes academic how cold it is, you just don't fool around. We became connoisseurs of the best ways to stay warm with felt insoles and double mittens and thermal underwear, but we mostly did not linger outside. The contrast was, when the temperature rose to - 20 F or -10 F, we would stroll around in sweaters remarking on the unbearable heat wave.

Living now in the Lower 48, I treat cold weather (especially windy cold weather) with respect but not much excitement.

The assertion is that CO2 either acts as a trigger that unleashes a chain reaction or as an amplifier with cumulative effect. This is based on the characterization of CO2 in isolation, which was summarily integrated into models purported to reproduce a global frame of reference. The detachment from reality, liberal use of fudge factors, suggest that the characterization was progressed to absurd proportions.

I hope that this is not off topic but cold and hurricanes are both weather:

One of the Mikes asked in another comment thread the other day how we are doing down here in Puerto Rico. I did not have internet except over my phone so I did not reply then, I am doing so now.

We are not -5 degrees, that is certainly one thing to be thankful for. On the other hand, 100+ days after Hurricane Maria 45% of Island residents still do not have power. Myself included, though the neighborhoods on both sides have power.

We need to replace several hundred transmission towers. The huge metal towers that march across the countryside. Since most power is generated in the south and most people live in the north, the transmission lines are a huge problem.

Additionally, the distribution system has been trashed. We need to replace something like 50,000 poles (38KV and down) and 5-10,000 miles of wire.

Right now we have about 5500 utility workers restoring power, about 5,000 from the upper 50. Including Wisconsin's power company.

I've been blogging about it at www.darkislandpr.blogspot.com along with plans for the future SOLAR!!! BATTERIES!!! though I have some other ideas and am thoroughly unconvinced of solar. I do believe that batteries may be useful.

There is a detailed assessment of system damage and recommendations for hardening by a committee of NY utility execs here. Interesting throughout:

Water has been mostly restored but a lot of that has required putting generators at each pumping and sewage station. Then we need trucks driving around keeping them fueled. Foster Fuels and Macron Services have a couple hundred tank trucks doing that.

Cell service, voice and data, are coming back though they can come and go at times.

Liberty Cable has brought crews from all over the US to restore cable/internet service.

FEMA is providing a lot of help to people whose homes were destroyed for the first time. This is not our first rodeo and after Hurricane Georges FEMA gave reconstruction money on the condition that reconstruction be in concrete. Apparently a lot of people took the money and rebuilt in wood. When they got blown down again FEMA is saying "Nope. No money for you!" Which I think is a good policy.

Personally, we came through OK. Lost a couple trees, no damage to my all concrete house. My son lost a garage door, daughter came through OK.

I am getting DAMN SICK AND TIRED of schlepping gasoline every day for my generator, though. OTOH, I thank God that this is my biggest problem. Many people are much worse off.

Thank you Mr Brigs. Thank you Mr Stratton. The cheeseheads know how to build good motors.

To all of you taxpayers who are funding this, we really do appreciate it. Thank you.

(And don't get me started on our very own Prince of Darkness cancelling the Whitefish contract!)

rehajm - Indeed. The common procedure for an ice storm such as occurring now in parts of south GA is to scream, shut your eyes, and hit the gas pedal. I'm not sure as to why, but I suspect the basic theory is that it is very dangerous on the roads, so the thing to do is get off them as soon as possible.

I will not go so far as to post a link about the story about the 3 Cobb County policemen who wiped out on ice. One of them is badly hurt so my feelings quail at the inevitable mockery. But let us just say that a GA native's snow/ice driving skills are negligible, and the intuitive response is not generally the best.

The exaggeration going on is hilarious. I pointed out a few days ago that this cold snap, while significant, isn't historically cold in an extreme sense. The cold snap in January of 2015 was much worse, as were a number of such events I literally lived through in the 1980s and 1990s.

In the other thread someone commented about FEMA requiring that the grid be built back as it was.

Not quite true. It is the US Army Corpse of Engineers that is in charge and they have issued a $1.2BN (so far) contract to Flour to do this.

The question is whether to restore a system that worked, even with all it's problems and get power back quickly or whether to take longer and build a new and improved version.

There are pros and cons to each approach but basically when half of residents are without electricity, you don't have time to fool around with the time it would take to design, source, permit and then, and only then, construct the system.

They are making some upgrades and improvements as they go along but the goal right now is to restore power.

I live in central Minnesota, where if it is really cold my coffee freezes instantly if I take it outside. Expresso takes a few minutes longer to freeze. Yesterday a freezing muskrat tried to get in our house. He came to the front door and scratched for about 10 minutes at the adjacent side window. Eventually we persuaded him to move to the backyard pond. We suspect that his lodge mates evicted him for his incendiarytweets.

Our newspaper's front page was full of warning about frost bite this morning. The story said there were more frost bite cases in the emergency rooms last weekend than anyone can remember. It wasn't even sub-zero here last weekend.

What is not to like, Prof.? There are three complete thoughts in the sentence. The sentence structure increases indeterminacy.

A "bomb cyclone' will blast the East Coast. Later, a polar vortex will uncork tremendous cold. One or both of these events will take place late this week.

There are hyperbole and weird metaphor. This is good "news" writing.

But an additional separate thought, packed in with "while" or "even as" or "since" and at least one worn out word such as "plummeting" which could be worked into a phrase like "send temperatures plummeting to the mercury-freeze zone" plus at least one contraction or double possessive, almost mandatory in any good writing, could really skyrocket the sentence into excellent "news" writing territory.

They love to go on about the "wind chill factor" temperatures. You never hear of the wind chill factor in the summertime. The weather reports don't say, "It's 90 out there, but with the wind chill it feels like only 83." Because they'd rather hype how hot it is, and in the winter they wanna hype how cold it is.

Earlier today I was in the grocery checkout line and an elderly gentleman ahead of me had difficulty with his credit card in the machine. The checker fixed it and he asked, "Did I do something wrong".She: "No, you just didn't get it in far enough".He: "That's been the story all my life."

She and I both looked at each other with raised eyebrows and then we all burst out laughing. It made my day.

90% of teh “humor” women come up with amount to approximately the same three dick jokes.

Tim, that wasn't my joke. It happened exactly as reported and it was the male customer who made the remark.

Face it, Tim. Guys don't like dick jokes. Shall we say that is their Achilles heel? Men may make all kinds of crass and demeaning sexual jokes about women but they blanch at phallic comments by women. IOW, they can dish it out but they can't take it. ;-)